Dirk Koetter weighs in on Bucs' game plan for Monday Night Football

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are set to face the Atlanta Falcons for a huge NFC South matchup Monday night. The Bucs are entering this game 4-9 and desperate for a much-needed big win against their division rivals, who are sitting at 8-5 right now.

During this week’s press conference at One Buc Place, coach Koetter took a few moments to discuss the heated matchup and how the team has implemented a new game plan for their Week 15 showdown.

“Having the extra day is fantastic,” Koetter said of the team’s preparations for the game. “It would be great if we got a few more of those in there to get the extra day. Now, it catches up with you the following week when you figure by the time Monday Night Football gets over – you don’t get out of the stadium until after midnight – so you’re basically short a day the next week.”

Koetter added that playing Monday night is good because it gives the Bucs an extra day to prepare and have more meetings. However, it definitely takes a toll on the team the week after since they have less time to prepare and get ready to face their next opponent.

“It’s like all the night games in preseason – everything is tempered to play, but you don’t do a whole lot the day before the game and then instead of playing at one o’clock, you are back another seven and a half hours or whatever it is” Koetter emphasized. “[There is] a lot of waiting around. We do add another set of meetings when we have a night game – another set of meetings to try to give the guys one last review session in the morning. Then they have some down time before pre-game meal and before going to the stadium.”

The Bucs are set to take on the Falcons Monday night at 8:30 p.m. ET. You can catch all the action when the game gets underway at Raymond James Stadium on ESPN.

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